


Lilacs, White and Purple

by sinchun



Series: NCT Life in a Pack [14]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Pack Dynamics, Polyamorous Pack, am i once again writing best friendship with romantic undertones? you betcha, discussion of age differences, extremely minor renle + jaemsung action
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:06:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29671155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinchun/pseuds/sinchun
Summary: Jisung doesn’t mind being the youngest in the pack. He’d never admit it aloud, but sometimes it’s nice being taken care of by the older members. As the baby of the group, he’s always been spoiled and loved on by the rest of the members, much like the omegas in the pack.It might be nice to be an omega,he muses. He watches the tenderness with which everyone approaches the omegas and thinks that he would like to be treated like that too.Like something terribly precious.
Relationships: Na Jaemin & Park Jisung, Park Jisung & Zhong Chen Le, Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Series: NCT Life in a Pack [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2043016
Comments: 4
Kudos: 63





	Lilacs, White and Purple

**Author's Note:**

> Back to the typical disclaimer that you don’t have to have read the rest of the series to follow this fic, though a few things are explained in other fics (like why Renjun lives in the WayV dorm). Primarily a 2020 story, though Mark presents in 2019, as established by [In Bloom](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27944945).
> 
> This was supposed be entirely from Jisung’s POV but some Chenle POV snuck in as I was writing. For more Chenle POV, consider checking out [Small, but Knowing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28021260).

Jisung doesn’t mind being the youngest in the pack. Despite his determination to act grownup in front of the cameras, he quite likes coming home and being taken of at the end of the day. He doesn’t have to worry about anything. He’d never admit it aloud, but sometimes it’s nice being babied by the older members.

It works out nicely, because the older members like babying him. Especially Jaemin, who is fond of making outrageous comments about how he bore Jisung himself and you know what they say, there’s no use raising kids.

Everyone expected Jaemin to be the omega in Dream, but once he presented as a beta, it seemed like all those expectations shifted onto Jisung. And he can relate to the omegas in many ways. As the baby of the group, he’s always been spoiled and loved on by the rest of the members, much like Doyoung, Ten, Jungwoo, and Xiaojun.

 _It might be nice to be an omega,_ he muses. He watches the tenderness with which everyone approaches the omegas and thinks that he would like to be treated like that too. _Like something terribly precious._

After Mark finally presents, the only pups in the pack are him and Chenle. It feels right to Jisung. They always get paired together as the youngest members of the group, and they’ve been best friends for years. Of course, it’s the two of them in the end. He hopes that they present around the same time, the way that Jeno and Jaemin did, because it’d be nicer to stay together, wouldn’t it?

Reality, unfortunately, ensues in early 2020 when Chenle presents, and Jisung doesn’t.

He wakes up in their shared room to the sounds of Chenle’s moaning, pained. Jisung is by his bed in an instant, worried for his friend. “Chenle, what’s wrong?”

Chenle cries. He grabs at Jisung’s hands and spews a litany of frantic Mandarin that Jisung doesn’t understand. The only thing he recognizes is Renjun’s name.

“I’ll go get him,” he promises Chenle, pulling away to hurry to the WayV dorm to fetch a sleepy and confused Renjun.

When they return to Chenle’s side, Renjun’s body goes rigid for a second before relaxing. “You should leave,” he tells Jisung in a strained voice as Chenle reaches for him.

Jisung hesitates. “What’s going on?”

“He’s presenting,” explains Renjun. He lets Chenle tug him onto his bed. “Rutting, and it’s starting my heat. You should go now.”

An embarrassed blush floods Jisung’s face as he realizes that Chenle and Renjun are almost certainly about to have sex. He all but flees from the room, running to find Jaemin and Jeno in their dorm’s living room. He doesn’t want to be alone, needs something to distract himself from whatever Chenle and Renjun might be doing their room.

Jaemin sees the flushed, panicked look on his face and immediately beckons him in for some cuddles. “Aw, Jisungie, what’s going on?” he asks, scratching his fingertips comfortingly against Jisung’s scalp.

“Renjun-hyung is helping Chenle through his first rut,” Jisung explains, voice muffled as he snuggles deeper into Jaemin’s arms.

“Ooh, he’s an alpha like you, honey!” Jaemin’s exclamation is directed at Jeno, who is settling on Jisung’s other side on the couch.

Jeno wraps his arms around Jisung and Jaemin both. “It’s kinda crazy how many of us turned out to be alphas,” he comments. “That’s four out of seven Dream members.”

Jaemin pinches Jisung’s cheek. “The last pup standing in the pack,” he coos. “Will you join the alphas, or will you be a beta like Injunnie and me, or will you be our only omega?”

“I do _not_ appreciate the babying talk right now,” mutters Jisung. He presses his face into Jaemin’s shoulder, tries not to think about the fact he’s alone now—the only member of the pack who hasn’t presented yet.

He spends the next few days banished from his own room. He sleeps on the couch, watching quietly as Jaemin cooks extra food for Chenle and Renjun. He never paid so much attention, before, how the rest of the pack reacts when someone presents, but he sees now that everyone is caring for Chenle in their own way, even if Renjun is the only one currently with him.

 _When I present, they’ll all look out for me too,_ Jisung knows. It makes him feel a little bit better.

Eventually, Chenle’s rut breaks, and he and Renjun emerge, looking tired but happy. The pack converges around Chenle, reestablishing their scent-bonds with the new alpha. Chenle’s face is flushed, pleased. He’s always basked in attention, but he makes sure to seek out Jisung, giving him a tight hug even though Jisung can’t fully participate in the scenting ritual as a pup.

The pack scent-bonds again in the late summer, when they gain a new omega and beta in the form of Shotaro and Sungchan. The two new members don’t have spots in the dorms yet, but when the big NCT 2020 promotion period starts, Taeyong wants to fully welcome them into the pack regardless of the company’s unwillingness to be transparent about their plans for the upcoming unit.

Jisung tries to not feel jealous of the way everyone fawns over Shotaro and Sungchan. _Don’t be a spoiled brat,_ he chides himself. _Just because you’ve gotten used to being the baby of the the group doesn’t mean that others don’t deserve attention too._

At least he still has Chenle. He had been so worried, at first, when Chenle presented before him, that his best friend would leave him behind, but he didn’t. If anything, Chenle is _more_ attentive, always careful to never make Jisung feel left out even though he’s still a pup.

They’re still just as close as ever.

* * *

Secretly, Chenle hopes that Doyoung is right in his prediction that Jisung will be an omega. It’s just that he really likes sharing a room with Jisung—they’ve been roommates since 2017–and he knows that if Jisung presents as a beta, Taeyong won’t let them continue to room together because his rut cycle would be hard for Jisung to live with.

 _It’ll just be so much more convenient if Jisung is an omega,_ he muses. Or an alpha, he guesses, but he has a hard time seeing shy, sweet Jisung as an alpha.

Sure enough, on a sleepy October day, Jisung goes into heat for the first time. The moment Chenle smells it, he is by Jisung’s side. The alpha in him wants nothing more than to hold Jisung close and attend to his every whim and need.

“Chenle, it’s so _hot_ ,” whimpers Jisung.

“It’s heat, Jisungie,” Chenle replies with wry smile. He smooths back Jisung’s messy hair. “Can I help you?”

Jisung nods frantically. “Please.” He looks miserable, desperate for attention.

Chenle kisses his forehead, kisses his nose, kisses his mouth. “Shh, it’s okay now,” he murmurs. “I have you.”

He stays with Jisung for three days, doing everything he can to ease the pangs of his heat, until it turns into a rut, signaling Jisung’s presentation as a beta.

All Chenle wants to do is soothe Jisung’s pain, but he knows that as an alpha, his presence would only serve to aggravate Jisung during his rut. “Who do you want me to get?” he asks.

Jisung cries, shakes his head. “I don’t,” he chokes. “I don’t know!”

Chenle doesn’t know what to do in the face of Jisung’s indecision. “I’ll ask Taeyong what to do,” he says, because surely their lead alpha will know how to handle it. He is loath to leave Jisung alone right now, but what other choice does he have?

It is only after he sprints over to the 127 dorm that Chenle learns that Taeyong isn’t home right now. The “Make A Wish” group is off recording some promotion. Chenle could cry from frustration, because that means Doyoung and Jaehyun are also unavailable.

In their absence, he goes to the member he considers the next highest authority, in his own eyes if not in the pack at large.

“Kun-ge, I need your help!”

As Chenle explains the situation to Kun, the rest of the pack gathers around them, drawn out by the sharp scent of Chenle’s distress.

“It’ll be okay, Chenle,” says Kun, voice calm. “Someone will help him.”

His words relieve Chenle, but no one moves.

The problem, he quickly realizes, is that Jisung is so _young_ compared to a lot of the pack. The idea of having sex with him is unappealing to many of the older members who still see him as a child. Taeil may have helped Haechan with his first rut, but from the uncomfortable expression on his face, Chenle can tell that Jisung would be a bridge too far for him.

Chenle looks to the younger members. Jeno, Haechan, and Yangyang are all alphas, Renjun currently has a claiming bite from Yangyang for whatever goddamn reason, and that’s it. “Where the hell are Hendery and Sungchan?” he demands, his concern for Jisung making him testy.

“Vocal rehearsal for ‘All About You,’ I think,” replies Kun mildly, and oh, Chenle should’ve known that, because it was on his schedule too before he committed to helping JIsung with his first heat.

But between that and the “Make A Wish” unit being out, it means that the youngest non-alpha present and not currently claimed is Winwin.

Chenle turns to him with puppy eyes. “Winwin-gege,” he begins pleadingly.

“Xiaojun and Shotaro should be home soon, right?” says Winwin evasively. It’s clear that he too thinks that Jisung is a bit too young for him, and it frustrates Chenle to no end.

“So you’d just leave Jisung to suffer until then?” he growls, stalking angrily towards Winwin.”How fucking selfish can you be?”

Yuta shoves between them, his own teeth bared in response to Chenle’s unthinking challenge. “Don’t talk to Winwin like that!” he snarls.

Chenle can feel Jeno step up behind him, whether to back him up and hold him back, he isn’t sure, but before the situation can escalate, the door opens and Jaemin walks in, still done up in his styling for the “Make A Wish” promo.

His eyes widen as he takes in the scene before him. “Oh, hello, what’s going on here?”

A chorus of voices talk over each other to explain. Johnny’s rises above the rest, asking, “Is Shotaro back too?”

“Management kept him for the ‘All About You’ rehearsal,” answers Jaemin, shaking his head ruefully.

Chenle gnashes his teeth. What a perfect storm. It’s like a comedy of errors, resulting directly in the prolonging of Jisung’s unrelieved rutting pangs. “What about Xiaojun then?” he asks, annoyed. “Can he help Jisung?”

Jaemin makes eye contact with Jeno over Chenle’s head, then says firmly, “I’ll help him.”

“But you’re…” Chenle hadn’t even considered Jaemin an option. Yes, he is a beta, but he’s mated to Jeno. And while the two of them do sometimes take others to bed with them, it’s always as a couple.

“It’s Jisung!” snaps Jaemin. “I’ve always taken care of him.” He strides purposefully towards Jisung’s room, already unbuttoning his shirt.

Seemingly satisfied with this solution, the rest of pack begins to disperse, but Chenle turns to Jeno. “You’re okay with this?” he asks, feeling like maybe he doesn’t really understand their relationship at all.

Jeno smiles. “It’s Jisung,” he says, a softer echo of Jaemin’s earlier explanation.

“What does that _mean_?”

“I mean, he deserves someone who cares about him,” says Jeno. “Jaemin cares very much about him, you know.”

Chenle frowns. “Yeah, I know, but what about you?”

Jeno heads into the kitchen to fix himself a snack. “Why should it bother me,” he says simply, “when I know Jaemin loves me best?”

It’s not an unheard of relationship philosophy, but it’s different from the other mated couples in the pack. Kun and Ten only have eyes for each other. Taeyong, Doyoung, and Jaehyun share with each other, but no one else. They don’t do what Jeno and Jaemin do.

Chenle wonders what it feels like to love someone so deeply and so surely to let them go to someone else and know that they’ll always come back to you.

* * *

Jisung’s rut ends, but Jaemin doesn’t stop taking care of him. The older beta brings him water, feeds him, and makes him take a shower while he washes his bedsheets. The feeling of their friendship hasn’t changed, even though they’ve had sex now.

Jisung is so glad.

When he gets back from the shower, Jaemin has him sit on the bed and towel dries his hair for him, humming quietly under his breath. The touch is so soft and loving, and Jisung feels so lucky to have him always looking out for him.

“Is… is the pack disappointed in me?” he asks suddenly, as a thought occurs to him.

Jaemin’s hands pause in his hair. “Why would the pack be disappointed in you?” he asks, confused.

Jisung bites his lip and fiddles with the hem of his t-shirt. “Because I’m not on omega. I was the last hope for an omega in Dream, wasn’t I?”

“Oh, Jisungie, no one cares about that.” Jaemin sets the towel aside and sits next to Jisung, taking his hands in his. “We all love you regardless of your presentation, I promise you. You’re perfect just the way you are.”

“I wanted to be an omega,” confesses Jisung. “I saw that way everyone spoils the omegas, and I wanted that for myself too.”

Jaemin laughs. “Well, you might not be an omega, but I think that Chenle at least will spoil you anyways,” he says cheerfully.

Blushing, Jisung asks, “What do you mean?”

“He was quite concerned for you when your rut started, very determined to find someone to take good care of you,” explains Jaemin. “I hear he almost got into a fight with Yuta over it.”

Jisung’s blush deepens, then he realizes something. “We won’t be able to be roommates anymore, will he?” he asks. “Because I’m a beta.”

Jaemin purses his lips. “Probably not,” he admits. “You’d be too susceptible to his pheromones for it to be a good idea.”

Jisung sighs, because he likes living with Chenle, but he knows that Jaemin is right. It’d be better for him to live with another beta. Shuffling rooms around as needed is nothing new, though it’s been a while since anyone in the pack has had to change their room.

In the end, Jisung moves into the dorm shared by the 127 betas. Johnny’s been without a roommate for the past several months since Jaehyun moved in with Taeyong and Doyoung, and he welcomes Jisung with a big grin. “Beta bros!” he tells Jisung enthusiastically.

Chenle complains bitterly about it. “It’s just that we’ve been roommates for so long,” he pouts. “It’ll be so weird without you.” He complains even louder, though without any real ire, when Haechan becomes his new roommate, moving back into the Dream dorm for the first time since 2018.

“Yuta pulled rank,” explains Haechan with a shrug. “Sorry, Chenle, you’re not senior enough to deserve a room to yourself.”

Their squabbling brings a smile to Jisung’s face, and he snuggles deeper into Chenle’s side. He might not officially live in the Dream dorm anymore, but it feels like his home. He spends most of his free time there, and if he sneaks over some nights for an impromptu sleepover with his best friend, it’s not hurting anyone.

“I’ll be so careful with tracking my rut cycle,” Chenle assures him, then makes Haechan promise the same. “I don’t want you to have to worry about accidentally getting sent into heat or anything.”

And if on some of those nights, Jisung cuddles up to Chenle and maybe sometimes kisses him too under the covers, it’s nobody’s business but their own.

**Author's Note:**

> And that’s everyone’s presentations revealed! (Here's a [refresher on everyone's presentations](https://sinchun.tumblr.com/pack-characters) if you'd like.) Remember how in [Lead](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27899764), Taeyong says that it’s statistically likely that at least one of the dreamies would present as on omega? Well, none of them did lol.
> 
> Xiaojun-focused fic is next! I’ve been thinking about this one for a WHILE now, so I’m very excited to get started on it. I’m also beginning to plan one more Yuta-focused fic. It will very much lean into the “polyamorous pack” dynamic so it won’t be about settling into a relationship but rather just a fun hookup, and I’m trying to decide on who his partner should be. Currently considering Jungwoo (“In Bloom” establishes that they sleep together semi-regularly), Xiaojun (because of their amazing NCT 2020 interactions), Mark (alpha x alpha, anyone?) or Winwin (since yuwin _is_ very popular). Let me know in the comments, by [tumblr](https://sinchun.tumblr.com/) ask, or in this convenient [twitter poll](https://twitter.com/_sinchun/status/1364455380718288897), if you have a preference!


End file.
